Watching the 19-year-old Lhuan-Dre Pretorius bat was like enjoying a ballet concert. It’s the way he moves around the crease and made his shots flow effortlessly through different areas of the field. With his nice and free flow of the bat, he just toys with the bowlers by maneuvering the ball through his favourite parts of the ground. And if one of those bowlers’ name is Trent Alexander Boult, you know there is something extraordinary is going on.
From his face-off against Trent Boult in SA20 2025, the young opener belted him for 36 runs from 16 balls without getting out. And we all know how dangerous Trent Boult is with the new ball. Boult’s fiery deliveries were just a walk in the park for the young lad, as he whipped, lofted and drove his way through multiple regions. All this even with Trent Boult maintaining healthy economy of 6.95 in the tournament which had some blistering batting displays.
Technique and Strokeplay
Irrespective of the format, Pretorius didn’t fail to entertain and deliver for the team he represented. When he wielded his willow, it was an unusual and rare sight. A different technique, more elegance than a normal copybook batter and no respect to experienced bowlers. That flick for six against Trent Boult through deep mid-wicket in the Q1 of SA20 was just arrogance. You don’t see shots like that often. Boult was unaware of what Pretorius can do with those wrists.
One of the young lad’s oddities, is his usage of wrists to simultaneously generate power and guide the shot to a certain area unlike most of the batters. Pretorius also has a trigger movement he employs to mostly play across the line. Basically, he does not make efforts to play inside the line of the ball but still has a wide array of shots up his sleeve. But I’ve seen him play the cover drive, inside out shot and lofted shots through the off-side.
An evident leg-side dominant player, Pretorius has a knack to hit boundaries and sixes with a sort of balance. Out of the 47 boundaries he hit in SA20 33 came from the off side while among his 16 sixes only 3 generated from that area. So overall, 14 boundaries and 13 sixes through the leg side. Among his off-side boundaries there were a few which flew off the outside edge as well. But there were no inside-edge boundaries through the leg-side. The shots which he plays the best are mostly short-arm pulls, and most importantly, flicks and slog sweeps. Even while executing the slog sweep, a shot which demands complete follow-through, we can see him directing the ball away with his wrists. Those fast hands of his also keep his wrists in good company.
Arrival in the Big Leagues
Two months ago, Pretorius attracted attention by becoming the youngest ever test centurion for South Africa, thwarting Graeme Pollock’s six-decade-old record in the process. After Wiaan Mulder’s show-stealing 367*(334), Pretorius’ secured the second-best individual score in the series vs Zimbabwe with his 153(160). Two days prior to that he scored 51(35) against a bowling attack with Matt Henry, Jacob Dufyy and Mitch Santner even though in a losing cause.
During the SA20 editions of 2024 and 23, the top 5 run scorers were mostly batters in their late twenties or early thirties with Ryan Rickelton and Jos Buttler topping the lists. In 2025, Pretorius developed a tendency to have a little fun with that list. Maybe the absence of a teenager among top-performing batters didn’t seem right to him. The change he made to the list was significant indeed, as he dominated his way to the top with by competing with experienced hitters like Rickelton, Rassie Van Der Dussen and Aiden Markram in contention.
Scoring the most runs in a league where players from all around the world feature in, becoming the youngest test centurion for the Proteas on debut. If that’s not a perfect way to start in the big leagues, what is? If this is not how someone audaciously announces themselves in international cricket, how is it done?
